Various Artists: Comedy by the Numbers

If comedy were a science, then maybe the Albert Einstein would have changed his name to Albert Brooks and been an ingenious funnyman instead of a brilliant physicist! (Or maybe he would have combined both professions and still invented the atomic bomb — a devastating weapon that obliterates cities and kills comedy careers.)

But there is no formula, hee-hee does not equal MC + Headliner (squared), the point of the often hilarious Comedy by the Numbers, an audio version of the deadpan, dead-on parody book of the same name by Eric Hoffman and Gary Rudoren.

The “Book-on-Tape CD” from ASpecialThing Records is funnier than a squirrel on water skis (which is Rule No. 1 of Comedy: Animals Doing Human Things Is Funny). And though hard to believe, it’s funnier than 100 U.S. Senators sitting on suppositories (Rule No. 104: Political jokes plus Rule No. 69: Medications and Their Side Effects).

About the Author

John Delery

John Delery has written thousands of articles and millions of words in his career, and still he has professional goals: He wants "Be honest with me, Doc: Will I ever tweet again?" to someday supplant "Take my wife...please" as the Great American punch line.